“That is just what we want,” said the General.  “We are digging the canal for the very purpose of navigating the river without passing near Vicksburg.”

Number three went to the rear.  Number four came forward.

“If you make this cut-off, all these plantations will be carried away.  You will ruin the property of many loyal men.”

He was answered that loyal men would be paid for all property taken or destroyed, as soon as their loyalty was proved.

The fifth and last point in the protest was next advanced.  It came from an individual who professed to practice law in De Soto township, and was as follows: 

“The charter of the Vicksburg and Shreveport Railroad is perpetual, and so declared by act of the Louisiana Legislature.  No one has any right to cut through the embankment.”

“That is true,” was the quiet answer.  “The Constitution of the United States is also a perpetual charter, which it was treason to violate.  When you and your leaders have no hesitation at breaking national faith, it is absurd to claim rights under the laws of a State which you deny to be in the Union.”

This was the end of the delegation.  Its members retired without having gained a single point in their case.  They were, doubtless, easier in mind when they ascertained, two weeks later, that the canal enterprise was a failure.

The last argument put forth on that occasion, to prevent the carrying out of our plans, is one of the curiosities of legislation.  For a long time there were many parties in Louisiana who wished the channel of the Mississippi turned across the neck of the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, thus shortening the river fifteen miles, at least, and rendering the plantations above, less liable to overflow.  As Vicksburg lay in another State, her interests were not regarded.  She spent much money in the corrupt Legislature of Louisiana to defeat the scheme.  As a last resort, it was proposed to build a railway, with a perpetual charter, from the end of the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, to some point in the interior.  Much money was required.  The capitalists of Vicksburg contributed the funds for lobbying the bill and commencing the road.  Up to the time when the Rebellion began, it was rendered certain that no hand of man could legally turn the Mississippi across that peninsula.

The first siege of Vicksburg lasted but twenty days.  Our fleet was unable to silence the batteries, and our land force was not sufficient for the work.  During the progress of the siege, Colonel Ellet, with his ram fleet, ascended the Yazoo River, and compelled the Rebels to destroy three of their gun-boats, the Livingston, Polk, and Van Dorn, to prevent their falling into our hands.  The Van Dorn was the only boat that escaped, out of the fleet of eight Rebel gun-boats which met ours at Memphis on the 6th of June.

At the time of making this expedition, Colonel Ellet learned that the famous ram gun-boat Arkansas was completed, and nearly ready to descend the river.  He notified Admiral Farragut and Flag-Officer Davis, but they paid little attention to his warnings.